Ride-share startup to offer free van rides from Penn Station to Grand Central

The taxi-sharing startup Bandwagon will be running vans between the Grand Central area and Penn Station on Thursday as a tryout for a launch aimed at bridging gaps in the public transportation system.

The vans, which carry 14 to 16 passengers, will operate one morning only, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. The pilot is part of a larger venture the company is calling Bandwagon Transfer, which will focus on areas in the city where public transit users need help making connections.

The goal is to improve "the transportation landscape, not increase congestion in the way Uber and Lyft have," said CEO and founder David Mahfouda.

Four vans rented from Golden Touch Transportation, which operates the NYC Airporter service, will make the roughly 15 minute trip between West 32nd Street and Seventh Avenue, and the northeast side of 42nd Street and Madison Avenue.

Mahfouda plans to test five to 10 other routes in corridors that are not well served by public transportation: Brooklyn to Queens, Queens to the Bronx and north Brooklyn to south Brooklyn. The trials will continue over the summer in preparation for a September launch that will utilize the Bandwagon app and allow vehicles to make on-demand pickups along the routes.

At that point, Bandwagon will charge $2.75 to $3, or roughly the same as a subway ride.

"The New York City subway system is hub and spoke," Mahfouda said. "We're looking at connecting the spokes."

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